The Squid's Ear Magazine


[ism] (Pat Thomas / Joel Grip / Aontonin Gerbal): Maua (577 Records)

Recordings from the Berlin club Au Topsi Pohl where the [ism] piano trio of Pat Thomas on piano, Joel Grip on double bass and Antonin Gerbal on drums played 4-nights in a row, May 18-21, 2022, Thomas performing on a Bösendorfer grand piano, creating an omnipresent and precise sound that drove the band to great heights of interactive, warmly diverse playing.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Pat Thomas-piano

Joel Grip-double bass

Antonin Gerbal-drums


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UPC: 755491288771

Label: 577 Records
Catalog ID: CD-577R-5926-1
Squidco Product Code: 34067

Format: CDR
Condition: New
Released: 2023
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded at club Au Topsi Pohl, in Berlin, Germany, on May 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st, 2022, by Alexis Baskind.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Maua means flowers in Swahili.



"Where would the world be without the clang and the clamor of sensory heightened free-jazz blowing purposeful and wild throughout the realm and surrounding tenements? This is an unsung understanding understood by fellow wayfarers, handed down by the elders and experienced by all who listen.

Pianist Pat Thomas understands all this and reassures you of it on the right rollicking Maua, a tight as a snare drum, free jazz free-for-all that does not get on your nerves halfway through. Maua buzzes from the beginning and buzzes throughout with a sweet and slinky kinetics all its very own. The forty minute title track is all one needs to hear: a whiplash, thumbnail history of the music itself. Part Art Tatum, Jaki Byard, Cecil Taylor, and, daresay Satoko Fujii and/orHiromi, Thomas almost singlehandedly brings them all to the table, in his own obstinate, yet massively enjoyable style.

But saying almost singlehandedly might imply a solo performance from Thomas and that is hardly the case. Bassist Joel Grip and drummer Antonin Gerbal far more than just earn their take of the night's gate. They sweep up Thomas in their runaway energy and tenacious interlock. Exhibit A to that statement is the twenty-two minute mark and forward of Maua's namesake track. They put on a master class of rhythmic legends, Roy Brown and Ed Thigpen; Walter Page and Jo Jones; Ron Carter and Tony Williams et al. Their eye-of-the-storm force takes control and at times makes Thomas either command or surrender to the live situation they found themselves in one night in Berlin, May 21, 2022.

Fortunately, the metro pulse of Maua does not stop there. "'Niloo's Dream," a wonder of the collective, total mind, brings us back to ballroom and slow dancing. Women in chiffon and men at the ready to light a cigarette, buy a drink, bust a smooth move. It is the exact opposite of the title track, yet a most fitting way to end the night."-Mike Jurkovic, All About Jazz


Get additional information at All About Jazz

Artist Biographies

"Born 27 July 1960; Piano, electronics. Pat Thomas started playing at the age of 8 and studied classical music and played reggae. He began playing jazz at sixteen after seeing Oscar Peterson on television then listened to snatches of jazz on the radio before, in 1979, playing his first serious improvised gigs. From 1986 he played with Ghosts which was Pete McPhail and Matt Lewis.

In addition to programming his keyboards, Pat Thomas also utilises prerecorded tapes. He told Chris Blackford (1991), 'As far as the tapes are concerned I'll probably just sit in front of the TV and tape whatever's going on and so some editing afterward to decide what might be useful. ...But I don't actually put a label on each tape saying what's on there, so when I come to use them I don't know what I'm going to be playing. That obviously prevents me from setting things up. I pick them at random and see what happens. So I'm just as surprised as anybody else at what comes out'.

In 1988 he was awarded an Arts Council Jazz Bursary to write three new electroacoustic compositions for his ten-piece ensemble, Monads: Roger Turner and Matt Lewis, percussion; Pete McPhail, WX7 wind synthesizer; Neil Palmer, turntables; Phil Minton, voice; Phil Durrant, violin; Marcio Mattos, bass; Jon Corbett, trumpet; Geoff Searle, drum machines. The intention was to feature different aspects of electronics using improvisation so, for example, one piece - Dialogue - featured Pete McPhail and Neil Palmer, another concentrated on the interaction of percussionists and drum machines, and a third piece had Phil Minton and Jon Corbett improvising with a computer. The pieces were performed at the Crawley Outside-In Festival of new music in 1989.

Pat Thomas was invited by Derek Bailey to play in Company Week in 1990 and 1991 and he also took part in the Ist International Symposium for Free Improvisation in Bremen with the guitarist. He has been a member of the Tony Oxley Quartet (documented on Incus CD 15) and played in Oxley's Angular Apron along with Larry Stabbins, Manfred Schoof and Sirone at the 8th Ruhr Jazz Meeting and in the percussionist's Celebration Orchestra. He plays with Lol Coxhill in a range of combinations from duo to being a member of 'Before my time', is a member of Mike Cooper's Continental Drift, and he has a well established duo with percussionist Mark Sanders and a trio with Steve Beresford and Francine Luce. In 1992 Pat Thomas formed the quartet Scatter with Phil Minton, Roger Turner and Dave Tucker; funded by the Arts Council they toured the UK in 1993 and again at the beginning of 1997.

On the 'Festival circuit', Pat Thomas has appeared at: the Young Improvisors Festival at the Korzo Theatre, Den Haag (with Jim O'Rourke, Mats Gustafsson and Alexander Frangenheim); Angelica 95 in Bologna, Italy; the Stuttgart 5th Festival of Improvised Music 96 (with Fred Frith, Shelly Hirsch, Carlos Zingaro and others); and the 3rd International Festival 96 in Budapest (with Evan Parker, Phil Minton, John Russell and Roger Turner).

-EFI (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/mthomas.html)
7/15/2025

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"For a number of years now, energetic double bassist, filmmaker and producer Grip has played an important role for the new scenes of improvised music in Europe. As founder of Umlaut Records, he opened up for creative forms of organizing collectives of musicians and promoting their music internationally. Since 2003 he has been one of the main organizers of Hagenfesten in Dala-Floda, Sweden, a stand-alone festival, and quite frankly possibly the most pleasant venue for free improvised music not only in Sweden but in the whole of Europe. Few other places offer quite the same endearing combination of sophisticated musical risk-taking, and up-beat, social get-together. GripÕs musicianship is informed by a similar knack for welding musical sophistication with social communication, often with an analog film camera at hand. With a handful of short films Joel Grip met mexican filmmaker Mauricio Hern‡ndez and shortly the film production company Umlicht was established. They are right now working on their third and forth feature film together. Umdicht is amplifying the pencil of Joel GripÕs hand, partly through the irregular issue of Lšsa Blad and partly in the future release of books."

-Joel Grip Website (http://www.joelgrip.com/Joel/biograf.html)
7/15/2025

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"Since the release of File under: Bebop - Peeping Tom in 2009, Antonin Gerbal has developed his own approach of the drums - reinterpreting history of jazz drumming through the prism of european musical improvisation. Improviser, composer, teacher and performer, Antonin Gerbal is associated with the vitality of the Parisian music scene, notably through Umlaut Records. He has performed in Europe, U.S., Russia and Japan, with many original projects such as Nakasanye, Zoor, ISM or Peeping Tom. Involved in large ensembles such as ONCEIM (playing pieces Eliane Radigue or Stephen O'Malley) and Umlaut Big Band (swing dancing band), Antonin Gerbal works regularly with English, German, Swiss and Japanese artists. At the begining of 2016, he releases his solo works called Sound of Drums."

-Antonin Gerbal Website (http://antoningerbal.com/about)
7/15/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Maua 41:16

2. Niloo's Dream 6:23

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Trio Recordings
Piano Trio (Piano Bass Drums)
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